Agency

Virtually all large American publishers (98%) are now pursuing programmatic marketing strategies at home, but fewer—72 percent—have moved to deploy the same in support of their audience development efforts abroad. Despite this current discrepancy, international publishers active in this burgeoning market trend intend to neutralize the deployment gap over the next two years, according to a recent survey and whitepaper from the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and Winterberry Group released, “Going Global: Programmatic Audience Development Around the World.”

Digital marketers better like change, because it’s coming. According to an April 2014 study by Altimeter Group, digital transformation is now a significant movement. The research found that definitions of “digital transformation” varied greatly among industry professionals, and in the end defined it as “the realignment of, or new investment in, technology and business models to more effectively engage digital customers at every touchpoint in the customer experience lifecycle.”

The voice of Mom is powerful. It’s something that brands are desperate to attract and at the same time, it’s one thing that brands fear the most. The motivated voice of one mom can mobilize a movement against a brand, having real impact right where it hurts – online and at the shelf.

Two art directors swap lives for four weeks in Dallas and Buenos Aires.

This summer Coca Cola replaced its logo with 250 popular names, and America suddenly became really thirsty.  No product improvement. No big grand prize. Just a touch of personalization, and people couldn’t dig through the convenience store cooler fast enough.

The premise of the internet of things (IoT)—that everything can and will be connected—is by turns enticing and intimidating. Who wouldn’t want the ability to cool a room before returning home or have the oven start to cook the evening meal remotely? What business wouldn’t want to keep closer, more up-to-the-minute tabs on inventory thanks to stock items that can communicate levels and whereabouts?

By Gonzalo López Martí@LopezMartiMiami

Many people are eagerly awaiting the A day (A as in algorithm).
They are hoping a time will come when algorithms will replace humans in the various functions of the marketing pipeline.
For instance: the Canadian chat app Kik, wildly popular among teens both in Canada and the US, is launching a service that will allow its users to converse with “brand bots”.
This is, software that impersonates a brand.
Line, the Japanese chat service globally known for its “stickers” interface, is also tinkering with bot-driven branded efforts to engage its users.
But don’t let the headlines fool you.

Traditional journalism has been significantly impacted by the growing number of Americans who turn to social media to source, share and engage with news.

Riding the wave of soccer fever that swept the nation, automotive companies that advertised during the World Cup 2014 experienced twice as much growth in consumer interest on KBB.com compared to automakers that did not advertise during the event, 1 according to Kelley Blue Book. The greatest traffic surge occurred the week the U.S. Men’s National Soccer team competed against Portugal and Germany, as many Americans tuned in to the high-profile games.

SSG analysis reveals that contrary to the myth that Hispanics are less likely to make pets full members of their families, Upscale Latinos are increasing pet ownership dramatically while other segments are nearly flat or declining.  The pet industry shift towards Hispanic consumers has implications for pet food manufactures, specialty stores, mass discounters, toys, animal hospitals, grooming spas, and other high-end services, etc.

Think the net neutrality debate is all about streaming videos? Think again. It’s actually much more than that: It’s about streaming your life. Internet connectivity might seem ubiquitous today, between the use of PCs, mobile devices, and smart TVs, but there are major swaths of daily life that aren’t connected yet that soon will become so, such as homes and cars, according to a new eMarketer report, “Key Digital Trends for Midyear 2014: The Internet of Things, Net Neutrality, and Why Marketers Need to Care.”

Identity has added key executives across their agency netwrok.

McGavren Guild Media announced that Anne Kensington-Lott has joined the company as vice president, Hispanic platform.

Chief executives heading U.S. multinational companies are confident about the overall economy and their business prospects in the next three years and anticipate a peak profit period from 2016 to 2017. Yet, in sharp contrast to that optimism, they are also expressing a range of concerns for the same three-year outlook — from questions about maintaining the relevance of their products and services, to their ability to innovate, to the challenges in adapting to government regulation.

Cannabrand recently teamed up with Todd Mitchem, who has consulted for Colorado-based cannabis businesses including O.penVAPE, as well as well-known corporations such as Starbucks, Purina, Marriott, H&R Block, Pizza Hut, Google and Nestle. Targeting everyone curious about the industry, from entrepreneurs to investors, Mitchem and the Cannabrand team will share insider information on trends, business processes and legal operations.

The Southern California Broadcasters Association (SCBA) created a White Paper that is focused on the consumer and the commercials they remember and those they ignore by media.

Following last year’s “Bleachable Moments” social TV effort success with ABC’s “The Bachelorette,” Clorox Bleach went at it again with extensions on Twitter, allowing fans to vote. Molly Steinkrauss, associate director of marketing communications at The Clorox Company, spoke with eMarketer’s Danielle Drolet about the effectiveness of social TV for consumer packaged goods brands.

Every year, an enormous amount of ink is spilt to greater or lesser effect on advertising: how to make it more effective, how to tie it more clearly to brand and sales lift outcomes, and so on. Much less is devoted to trade spending. And yet trade spending represents more than twice as much of the average consumer packaged goods (CPG) company’s expenditures—19 percent of revenue compared with advertising’s 7.5 percent—and sits second only to cost of goods sold as an expense item in the ledger (advertising is fourth).

The Wendy’s Company announced hat Brandon Solano has been named Senior Vice President of Marketing.

The proliferation of digital media via mobile phones, tablets, and apps has understandably affected various consumer groups differently. For any brand or organization with a story to tell, this means new opportunities and new obstacles to reach particular audiences. To keep up with the growth of digital, today’s content needs to be catered to audiences in a much more conscious and holistic way than it has been before.